Thursday, 29 August 2013

On the last Wednesday of each month the House of Dub VW club hold their monthly meet at The Globe Inn, in Linslade, Bedforshire LU7 2TA. The club meet is organised by House of Dub / H.O.D. Imports ( http://www.houseofdub.co.uk/Welcome.html ) I met Stuart / Liza and Steve at our club meeting place, The Charter Pub in Aylesbury for the short 10 mile cruise over to The Globe Inn.

My 1969 bay window which is a Californianimport and imported by The House of Dub.

Steve mentioned that he very rarely drives hisbug in the rain, this could be why it's so solidand relatively rust free.

Phil and his son Nathan came along in their1975 red and white beetle. Phil had spent most of the day polishing the car and it wasworth it, because this bugdid have a nice shine.

From the side view of Phil's bug, you can seehis hard work has paid off.

This was new to the HOD club meet, it wasowned by a guy called Kevin and he was saying that the car was built some years ago in Wales and was regularly used for time trialsup the sides of muddy Welsh mountains.

It certainly has the 'time trial' look about it. Sitting quite high to provide ground clearance,and minus running boards. I assume the rackon the deck lid was for spare wheels and toalso provide weight over the rear axle to helpprovide grip.

Plenty of ground clearance helps the car overthe muddy ruts and small rocks.

A regular at the HOD club meet is Tony inhis immaculate 1990, T25. This is one of thosevehicles that you never see with any dirt on.

Mark came along in his stunning T5. The colour of this bus has to be seen to be appreciated as the photo's do not do anyjustice as to how nice it really is.

A single colour so bright on a bus this sizeshouldn't work, but with the black tinted windows, black wheels and black stripe, it's just enough to make the paint scheme work.

Liza came over from Oxfordshire, met us inBuckinghamshire, and then cruised with usover to Bedfordshire to the club meet. Threecounty's in one night, Phew.!

Stuart parked up at the meet and promptly opened his engine hatch to let his turbo cooldown. Stuart has now re-designed his exhaustsystem, to reduce back pressure and it nowconsists on a piece of pipe about 8in long.

Mystery T4 parked up. I'm not sure who ownedthis, but it was nice to see it at the club meet. I have just been informed by Mark with the limegreen T5 that this T4 belongs to Darren, a member of WGC VW Club, thanks Mark.

Simon and Amanda joined our convoy en-routein their latest vehicle, a 1997 T4. I had a chatwith them both and had a look inside... very niceand kited out with the camping interior.

Amanda had the right idea, order food from the bar, and get it delivered to your camper. Now that's what I call style. !

Another car I haven't seen at the club meetbefore was this 1970 Notch-back. I did chatto the owner briefly and he did tell me his name, but I'm at that age where I forget thingsespicially names, sorry mate. Phil just sent mea message saying the owners name is Doug!Thanks Phil.

Very clean from every angle. The U.S. styleall red rear light lenses, the roof rack and theBRM wheels compliment the car perfectly.

Lovely straight bodywork finished off with deep gloss black paint.

The Interior on this left hand drive notch-back was lovely, it looked original and was in suchgood condition.

Josh arrived later in the evening in his T4, which I believe is up for sale.

Elliott and Alanna came down in their stunning1970 cherry red beetle. This is another of those vehicles you never ever see with anydirt on it, quite a feat with the weather we have in the U.K.

Such a pretty bug and very straight, look atthe reflection in the door of Elliott and Alanna'sbug. I do like those clear indicator lenses ontop of the wing, it's all about the small details.

Ash came along in his newly acquired Jetta.You would never believe this cars paint wasso faded when Ash got the vehicle it was a dull pink colour, but lots of polishing laterand it's gleaming deep red paint is back tohow it should be.

A lot of hard work has gone into this to makeit look this good, but it's certainly well worth all the effort.

Lewis came along in his tough looking '82Golf. This must be a menacing sight in yourrear view mirror.

Lewis's Golf tucked away under the trees atdusk. This really is a nice looking car.

Neil came over in his '97 Golf, with the instantlyrecognisable paint scheme, orange flecks overgloss black. I do like the paint on this car.

Ben decided to come along in his '99 Golf, having left his spilt screen and T5 at home.

Ben's Golf tucked away under the tree's in thecar park. Ben works long hours so it's alwaysnice to see Ben and have a catch up.

Another Elliott, made his debut at the HOD clubmeet with his impressive '71 deep red beetle,even more impressive is the fact that Elliott isstill a teenager.

I believe the car belongs to Elliott even thoughhe's not old enough to drive yet, so was drivento the meet by someone else. A pretty nice ride for your first car! Apparently it has just beenM.O.T.'d and flew through with no advisories atall.

Interior is pure '70's classic bug and looking good. I bet Elliott can't wait until he's old enough to drive this lovely bug on the road.

Stephen has started to work on his 1960 beetleso he came over in his 1978 Californian baywindow import with pop top. Finished in alovely beige colour which looks like the original paint and has the original chequered seat covers and original curtains.. although these are faded from the hot Californian sun.

Stephen was saying that like my bay, havinglived most of it's life in the sunny U.S. the buswas quite solid and relatively rust free... not sure how long that will last in the damp U.K.So the August House of Dub club meet cameand went in the blink on an eye. It was goodto see so many familiar faces and meet somenew faces, (just wish I could remember their names!) I'm not sure if the Globe Inn wasexceptionally busy or whether the HOD clubmeet have almost outgrown the venue butit was extremely busy and difficult to parklater in the evening. Still, could be worse, the rainy season starts soon...

Photo quality: Unfortunately although it's still only August, it's almost dark by 20.00hrs. (it doesn't help that the car park is not illuminated, apart from one bright orange spotlight) I don't usea fancy camera or anyaccessories and only use a Panasonic Lumix FS16 14 mega pixel camera, so my apologies if the photo's are not up to the usual quality, but I guess we should be used to this livingin the U.K. !

Monday, 26 August 2013

Every year on the August bank holiday Sunday, the small picturesque hilltop village of Brill, nestled deep in the Buckinghamshire countryside holds a fun day with beer festival and a classic car show. This really is a good one day show that I and a few friends have attended before there is always plenty to do including: Craft stalls, face painting and junior disco and merry-go-round for the children, steam engine display, penalty shoot out, cream teas, Beer festival and of course plenty of classic and sports cars. This years theme for the fun day was The Great Train Robbery as it's 50 years since the daring robbery took place. In 1963 the Village of Brill became the centre of attention for the worlds media following the discovery that the train robbers hideout had been at Leatherslade Farm situated between the villages of Brill and Oakley. On display at the show was a Great Train Robbery exhibition including original media coverage and press cuttings, maps, photos and memorabilia relating to “The Great train robbery”

Stuart and I met James and Helen in the usual meeting place at the lorry car park at theThame Service Station. James and Helen camein Helen's beetle, with Stuarts chequered front'71 bay and my '69 micro bus.

James led the way from the service station tothe village of Brill, a short distance of about6 miles. The weather doesn't look promising.

Stuart brought up the rear of our small convoy.

After about 10 Min's we arrived at the show and parked up. I think the weather forecasthad put many people off going to this yearsshow, as we had some heavy rain in the last24 hours but the rain had stopped by the time we arrived, and it was getting clearer by theminute.

This nice looking pop top early bay was parkedup just 2 vehicles away from us, and of coursewe had to go and say hello.They turned outto be a very nice couple who lived quite local.

I'm not sure what difference there is from theback between the Triumph Herald and the Vitesse, maybe there isn't any difference?

This stunning 1972 TR6 was immaculate andhad recently undergone had a total restoration from the chassis up. The number plate is pretty cool '1972 TR' the owner also had a 1971 TR6, and yes it's registration number was '1971 TR'.

There were quite a few Fiat 500's at the showand this 1967 grey one was totally original and in 'as new' condition.

Immaculate from every angle. Stuart and I were talking to the owner of another Fiat 500and he was saying that they have recentlyhad a convoy of 6-7 Fiat 500's that travelleddown to Rome, in Italy for a holiday. A totalround trip of something like 2,500 miles.

The Ford Zephyr is as British as fish and chips, and this late 1950's / early 1960's MK2green and white one was immaculate.

With it's American influence on the bodywork styling it soon caught on in the U.K. When new the top speed of this MK2 would have been 88 mph, and a 0-60 time of around 17 seconds. This was deemed to be quite fast back in 1960.

This lovely white TR4A convertible wasanother vehicle that must have been restoredas it's condition was amazing. The TR4A wasonly produced for 3 years, from 1965 to1968, and this one is a 1967 model.

Lovely looking car and when new this would have cost £968, with the optional extras ofwire wheels (£36) Overdrive (£51) heater (£13) and the seat belts were £4 each.

Another TR4A but this one had obviously beenraced in the past. With it's 2138cc engine it was built to race and in 1966 in the Sebring 12 hour race, TR4A's finished 1st, 2nd and 3rd.

Classic design that still looks tough today, butin the late 1960's this must have looked amazing.

The classic Mk2 Cortina 1600E. This wasa higher spec model from the standard MK2 Cortina. The 1600E was introduced in October 1967 and featured the Lotus suspension, andthe high tune GT1600 Kent engine and hada burr walnut wood grain dashboard with a full compliment of instruments and walnutdoor capping's with the Rostyle wheels.

Immaculate engine bay on the 1600E. Anothertrade mark of the 1600E was the black 'dog bone' grille, compared to chrome versions on other MK2's and the twin spot lights.

The MK1 Lotus Cortina was produced from1963 - 1970 and only offered as a 2 door model, and only in the white with green flashcolour scheme.

A 1938 Aston Martin International 2/4 seattourer in classic British Racing green, although I'm sure Aston Martin would havecalled it a different colour.

This had the 1.5 litre engine and the shortchassis. This Aston Martin is probably worthin the region of £80,000

A very nice looking Standard Vanguard Vignale, from 1958. It featured Italian stylingand was introduced at the 1958 Earls CourtMotor show. The cost new was £1147 and had a top speed of 82mph, and 0-60 inaround 20 seconds.

This lovely 1949 Beford OB 2 axle bus was ablast from the past. This 27 seater bus had a 3204cc petrol engine and was totally immaculate.

The standard of the bodywork was amazing.

Inside this lovely old bus, the interior was evenbetter than the outside. Lovely wood detailing,re-upholstered seats in original fabric and it even had a sunroof.! ( that front section of theroof slides back)

More lovely wood detail above the driver, and that clock is pure period.

A Bedford CA Dormobile in a light green / yellow with white flash. These were in productionfrom 1952 - 1969.

This one had the transporter style interior withrear seats compared to the camping interior.

A 1973 MK1 Ford Escort Mexico, in the redand white colour scheme. Complete with the4 spot lights and clear perspex headlight covers. (note how the 2 lower spots pointoutwards, this was first used on the rally carsso the 4 spots illuminated not only the road ahead but also the edge of the road, veryimportant when rallying)

A classic British car that I remember so wellas a kid, well OK a teenager!

This lovely 1958 MGA 31 AKF fixed head coupe was amazingly clean. Finished in clipperblue (although not a factory colour, it is very close)with a factory fitted Webasto sunroof.

Styling in the 1960's was so sleek, why do wehave to have such shapeless car styling today?

A stunning example of the Austin 7 saloon,circa 1931. This car had some neat featuresincluding a spare set of spark plugs on thebulkhead, next to the fuel tank and a rear window blind operated with a pull cord from above the drivers side window.

Interior was complete with brass instrumentsurrounds, and brass window winders and door pulls.

A Morris Oxford Traveller, circa 1953 in arestored condition.

The single yellow spotlight on the Travellerstood out, and upon closer inspection it is thesame Wipac spotlight, with the same designglass lens as I have just put on my bus.

No classic car show would be complete without a Jaguar XK150, and this gleaming whiteexample was simply stunning. They were madefrom 1957 - 1961 and you can tell the XK150 from the previous XK140 / XK120 by it's onepiece windscreen. The previous models hada split screen.

The badge on the boot of the XK150, showingthe success of the XK series over the years.

Inside the pavilion was the 'Great TrainRobbery' exhibition. It had press cuttings from the time showing the progress the police made from the initial discovery of the robbery to thecapture of most of the robbers.

Probably the most famous train robber, RonnieBiggs, and how he looked in 1963.

The discovery of the train robbers hide-out, ofcourse the robbers had fled by this time.So that was the 2013 Brill Fun Day with ClassicCar show, overall a very good day with goodfriends. The weather could have been better,although it did brighten up in the afternoon.This is a small local show with not too manyVW's, but plenty of other classic cars, and you know sometimes it's nice to go to a show and see what other classics areout there, overall a show well worth going to.

About My 1969 Microbus.

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